Gilbert the Blurry-eyed Goose

1

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Waiting

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       Rocking his head slowly back and forth, Gilbert watched the willow branches above

swaying in the breeze. Nearby, he could hear the Elder goose explaining to the gaggle* that they couldn’t start their journey until the winds calmed. He added that it would be best to eat up and fatten up for the long trip while they waited. The flock listened intently to the Elder’s words, except for Gilbert. He was a bit distracted, but that was pretty normal for Gilbert. Unfortunately, he missed two keywords, STAY and CLOSE.

​       Growing bored waiting, and not particularly hungry, Gilbert decided to get up and explore.

       “What a spectaaacccular day!” he said looking around. “Oh, oh, look, a pretty fluttery thing! I know its name. I know…it’s a butter-bug. No, that’s not right. It’s a bugfly, ooh, ooh, something like that. I guess it doesn’t really matter, it’s beauuutifulll!” Gilbert rambled out loud, as he tripped over a stone.

       Regaining his balance, Gilbert continued to waddle* along following the aimless flutter of the orange and black butterfly. Gilbert was supposed to be paying attention to his flock. He was supposed to be waiting, eating, and listening for take-off instructions, but he wasn’t. Before he knew it, he had traveled halfway around the pond, until he heard a strange noise that stopped him in his tracks.

 

 

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2

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Radio

 

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       “Ooh, ooh, what is that? And, what is that noise it’s making?” he honked, gazing up at a picnic table. Clumsily, Gilbert hopped and flopped on top of the bench. “Oops, I’m good,” he chuckled to himself. Another quack and grunt and he landed on top of the table. Struggling to keep from falling off, he found his balance. Squinting and moving his head side to side, he saw a blurry, small, birdlike figure at the table's edge. The plump little bird giggled.

       “Are you okay?”, the sparrow asked, trying not to laugh.

       “Me? Yup. I’m okay, good as gold. My eyes, not so good,” Gilbert responded. Gilbert had poor eyesight. He could only see things if they were right in front of him, but further away, they became blurry. The elders called his blurry eyes, nearsightedness*. Half ignoring the little bird, he stared at a noise-making box. “More importantly, what is that, and what is that sound?”

       “That, my friend, is a radio. It’s playing music. Put your head near it.”

Leaning down to listen, Gilbert’s eyes opened wide. Focusing with one eye, he saw it was a box with a cord. His eye followed the cord which turned into two cords and the sound was coming out of the little cushions on the ends. Tilting his head to the cushions, his feet started to move and his tail feathers started to wiggle. “Wow, how fun is this!”, Gilbert sang, becoming totally absorbed in the wonderful noise. “I love muuusic!”

       “Check this out,” said the little bird. “If you spin this knob, the music changes.”

       “Wow! That’s amazing! Gilbert exclaimed, playing with the knob. I love this whole box!!! So many sounds!”

       “I love music too!”, tweeted the sparrow. “Hey, do you wanna be friends?”    

       “Yes! That would be grrreat!” Gilbert agreed flapping his wings. The two new friends happily danced, laughed, and sang along with the magic box.

 

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3

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Departure

 

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       While enthralled* in all of the excitement of the wiggling, and waggling atop the picnic table, Gilbert didn’t notice that his flock was assembling. The headwinds* calmed and they were ready to depart. Earlier, the flight positions were assigned and Gilbert’s position was toward the back. On the journey, they all took turns leading the skein*, but since Gilbert had trouble seeing, he was considered weaker than the rest of his flock. He typically stayed to the back where the flying was easier. There was a loud noise, as the flock departed. The honking was their way of communicating and rotating their positions. It was a team effort and it was LOUD!

       Hearing the noise above him, “Ooh, ooh, I have to go!”  Gilbert said alarmed.

       “What’s wrong?” asked the little bird.

       “My flock is leaving to fly South. I gotta go!  Can you point me back to the big weeping willow tree?”

       “I’ll take ya back,” the little bird offered. Waddling quickly and flying a few steps in between, he introduced himself, “By the way, my name is Arby.”    

       “Thanks, Arby. I’m Gilbert,” he responded out of breath.

Arby and Gilbert quickly returned to the willow, but when they got there, no one was there.

       “Oh dear!” Gilbert said in a panic.

       “Uh-oh,” said Arby with a worried voice. “Where is everyone?”

Gilbert sat down with a thump and started to cry.

       “I missed my flock leave. I messed up… aaagainnn,” he sobbed.

       “Don’t cry,” comforted Arby. “Just go catch up with them. Do you know where they are going?”

       “South. It’s that time of year when we migrate to a warmer climate for the winter months.  Catching up sounds easy and maybe I could, if I could see them, but I can’t,” Gilbert sobbed. “I always stay close to my family; they help guide me so I don’t get lost.”

       “Don’t worry, we will figure something out,” said Arby. Arby sat next to his sad friend and started to ponder* their options.

 

 

 

 4

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Options

 

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       “Okay,” Arby began. “Let’s think about this. What are the options? We could stay here at this pond. We know our families will come back here in the Spring.”

       “What about fooood? And what about waaater? It’s going to freeze!” Gilbert whimpered.

       “Maybe we could find somewhere close that is like South?” Arby suggested.

       “Okay, like where?” Gilbert asked skeptically*.

       “Listen, when we were in town, me and my family were eating crumbs at the Zoo Bean Café…; very yummy by the way. They have great muff…”

       “That’s nice Arby, but what do muffins have to do with flying South?” Gilbert interrupted.

       “Well, The Zoo Bean is part of the Zoo! Zoos have animals aaannnddd birds!

       “Do they have geese like me?”

       “There is only one way to find out. Let’s go to the Zoo! I’ll lead. It would be kind of nice though to have a little help with getting there,” Arby hinted.

Blankly, Gilbert looked at him.

       “A ride… Gilbert, a ride? Short legs, round belly, remember?”

       “Oh, oh, sure! Hop on,” Gilbert offered. Arby fluttered up on Gilbert’s back and landed with a thud. “Wow, you are a dense little bird,” Gilbert teased.

       Step one was to get out of the pond area. They walked across the dirt parking lot until they got to the road. “Which way?” asked Gilbert.

       “Towards the noise,” Arby said confidently. In the distance, they could hear the sound of cars and people. They walked alongside the road, occasionally crossing in front of the cars. The drivers yelled and honked at Gilbert. Arby couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but he could tell they were not happy. Gilbert chuckled when he saw the cars stop and wait for them. Arby directed Gilbert past the Deli-Mart and then a right at the Gas & Such, weaving him through the town until they reached the zoo.

 

 

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5

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The Zoo

 

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       Looking up at the arched sign, it read, ‘MOUNTAIN BEAN ZOO – Welcome to All’. Look, look! Welcome to all! That means us, Gilbert!” Arby chirped with excitement.

       “This is spectacular, Arby! Let’s go inside and find our place to call home for the winter!”

       Excitedly, the friends entered the grand gates ignoring the strange looks and pointing fingers of the other zoo-goers. Walking along, Gilbert didn’t realize that Arby was no longer on his back. As he chatted away, he didn’t hear any response. Puzzled, he looked back and there was Arby under a nearby table eating popcorn. His little cheeks were full. “Arby! What are you doing?”

       With food falling out of his beak, he responded, “[munch] [munch] eating? It’s sooooo yummy!!”

       “We need to go,” Gilbert said impatiently. Arby rolled his eyes and grabbed one last piece of the popcorn before running to catch up.

       Walking along, they strolled passed the elephants and then the gazelles. Arby's eyes opened wide when he heard a booming roar and then saw a lion running towards them. The two scared friends screamed and scattered running into each other before fleeing away from the lion’s enclosure.

       Diving under a picnic table, they tried to catch their breath. “Close call,” Arby finally uttered. Gilbert just nodded still not able to speak. Peeking out from under the bench, Arby saw a sign with an arrow that read, MONKEY. “Gilbert, monkeys are smart, let’s ask them where to find your geese.” Again, Gilbert just nodded and numbly started to walk in the direction the arrow pointed. Arby took that as a yes and quickly followed along.

       When they came to the monkey exhibit, Gilbert was feeling better. He called out to a Spider monkey* sitting up in a tree. “Hello, Mr. Monkey?” The monkey did a tuck and roll dropping from the tree. He made Gilbert jump as he swung in the air. Upside-down and eye-to-eye, he looked intently into Gilbert’s face.

       “Why?” asked the monkey.

       Gilbert ignored his question, “Wait; how do you do that?” he asked instead.

       “What?”

       “Hang on that branch with your tail?”

       “I just do…why do you fly?” the monkey countered.

       “Good point,” Gilbert said puzzled, thinking it wasn’t an answer. Moving on, he asked,           “Quick question: do you happen to know where the goose exhibit is?”

       “There are no quick questions,” the swinging monkey responded and again, asked      “Why?”

       Growing impatient, Gilbert explained, “We’d like to stay here this winter in the goose exhibit.”

       “You don’t look like a goose,” laughed the monkey.

       “I AM a goose, a Canadian Goose!” Gilbert declared.

       “Whatever you say, the monkey giggled and pointed. “Around there on the left. You just don’t look like a goose.” Getting the last word in, he pulled his body up on the branch and started to clean his fur. Gilbert looked angry and started to respond until he heard Arby.

       “Let it go,” Arby advised Gilbert. Gilbert shut his bill and squinted his eyes at the monkey.

      “Goose,” he said under his breath. They quickly waddled in the direction that the monkey pointed. When they got around the corner, there it was, a beautiful small pond surrounded by grass and trees. Gilbert made a running start and flew up and over the fence landing in the pond. Arby flew up and over landing in a nearby bush and started to devour its little purple berries.